Diaphragm for model passenger cars



Jan. 22, 1935. c, s H

DIAPHRAGM FOR MODEL PASSENGER CARS Filed Aug. 2, 1954 I v ntor. c/f/gfdin/6 Patented Jan. 22, 1935 q p UNITED STATES" PATENT OFFICE i1,988,755

DIAPHRAGM FOR MODEL PASSENGER CARS I Clifiord H. Smith, Chicago, 111.,assi'gnor to'Ameria can Model Engineers, Chicago, 111., a corporation ofIllinois Application August 2,1934, Serial mama 11 Claims. (01. 46 i 8)My invention relates to a flexible diaphragm. blank-from whichthe'fiexible part of one of the for use on miniature railway passengercars in diaphragms was formed, drawn, on a smaller simulation of the.diaphragms which connect the scale than Figs. 1 to ,4 and with dottedlinesin v vestibules of adjacent passenger cars on modern dicatingthefold lines.

5 railroad trains. Fig. 6 is an end View, showing'thefolded cloth" 5 In'some of its generalobjects my invention strip as it appears while beingslid between the aims to provide a simple, easily. manufactured two endplates after these plates have been coni and inexpensive diaphragm whichcan readily be nected by the lower spring and beforeth'e upper attachedto an endof a miniature (or so-called spring is attached; I

lo .model) of a railway passenger car, and which Fig. '7 is a plan.vie'w' showingone of flex-l will simulate the appearance of thediaphragms ible diaphragms as it appears when digitally disused onactual railway cars without requiring a torted to permit access forfastening an end complete bellows construction. plate to a car. i

In addition, my invention aims toprovide a In its here illustratedform,'my miniature flexs flexible diaphragm for this purpose which willible diaphragm con's'istsvofiv twoflcouhterpart present perforated endplates parallel .and in frame-like, rigid and upright end-plates 1.,twoalinement with each other when'the diaphragm counterpart spiralsprings2securedrat their upis supported from the end attached to one car;posite endsto: the said-end plates" and extending; which willautomatically be compressed when respectively at higher and lowerelevations than.

two such diaphragms are interposed between car thetapertures 3 in theendplates'and a'suitably 20 ends spaced by a distance less than thenormal perforated imitation-diaphragm of olothiinter joint thickness ofthe two diaphragms, and posed between the two. end plates. 3 which willreadily flex and skew after the general Each end plate 1 is desirablypunched fromza manner of the diaphragms used on passenger thin sheeti0f:.bra"ss; with' its'iapertur'e-3ofabfire trains to adjust itself tovariations in the relawhich in gen'eralfisimulates thatrthroughithatiofctive positions of the end faces of the adjacent the bellows diaphragmonca real passenger-Year, cars. l and each spring 7-2. desirablyisaspiral coil pre-- More particularly, my invention aims to prosentingparallel ends which can readilybesoldered vide a flexible diaphragm inwhich two rigid end respectively to the opposedfaces of the: two endplates are connected by a suitably folded strip plates. Moreover,bothof'thesespring's prefer- 30 of cloth which simulates a bellows, andin which ably have their-Taxes in'the medial vertical plane the outerend plate is supported independently P (Fig. 4) of'theiaces of theendplates, and of the cloth from. the inner end plate in such a each'springis eta-considerably smallerdiameter manner as to prevent the cloth fromsagging than the height of thehorizontal frame members downward g of thetwo end plates to which the ends of the 35- Still further and also moredetailed objects spring are' soldered or brazed. 2 will appear from thefollowingcspecification and For. the flexible part of each diaphragm, Ifirst from the acompanying drawing, in which draw providea strip "oiclothcorresponding in width to" ing f the extreme height h of thecouiiterpart me'tal Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective vi w of a endplates, trim one longitudinal edge of this strip 4 end of a modelpassenger car equipped ith, a to consecutive V-formations eachcorresponding flexible diaphragm embodying my invention, in its Widthand h p t euppe 'edse' of one with the diaphragm somewhat distended toclarof 51151719471593 a provide m q w fly the drawing tudinal edge ofthis clojth strip with 'rec'esses R Fig. 2 is a plan view of two suchdiaphragms mi ly. q 9 ll??? 3 Said? 7 of as zi .1 if i g a fi gfif thecar send-circular upper portion of a diameter only 1 a I me slightlylarger than that of one of thesprings 2;

9 central meal i lqngltudmal and has a height'iully'as great asthatdiameter. 50 section through one of the flexible diaphragmsThe-nlialsoqpunch-the cloth t p th: gen;

befQre K attaqhedto can g i era'lly rectangularipe rforations 5"each ofwhich Fig. 41 1s a vertical section taken along the line' 1 mmo uprightxis a with n; a ex A at 4-4 of Fig. 3. one edge of the cloth and withthe upright-center Fig; 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the cloth line:or the bottoriirec'ess R onthe opposite-edge.

tion of the cloth strip between the consecutive fold lines forms panelsor perforated leaves each of which corresponds in contour and bore toboth of the metal end plates 1, except for the bottom recesses R and theperforation extensions R in the cloth panels, the consecutive leaves orpanels being connected to each other only at their side edges.

In assembling one of my flexible diaphragms, the two springs 2 may firsthave their similar ends soldered to one of the end plates, respectivelyadjacent to the mid-length of the upper and lower frame members of thatend plate, and the free end of the lower spring then soldered to thelower frame member of the other end plate. The zigzag-folded cloth stripis then slid partway downward between the two end plates, as shown inFig. 6, the central part of the upper frame member of one end member isexposed through the bore or panel opening 3 in the other end member, sothat the free end of the upper spring can readily be soldered to thefirst-named end member.

When the resulting partial assembly is then turned over, the assemblercan then reach the other end of the spring (through the alined aperturesin the cloth panels and through the aperture in the panel'to which theupper spring has already been soldered) so as to solder the other end ofthe upper spring to the adjacent end member.

As soon as the solder has cooled, the folded cloth strip can then beslidfarther downward, so that the two springs are respectively housed byand bear upwardly against upper edge portions of the aperture extensionsR and the bottom recesses R in (or substantially all of) the clothpanels.

Then, by'digitally flexing each diaphragm, as shown forexample in Fig.7, the assembler can readily secure access both to the 'end faces of thezigzagged (imitation bellows) cloth strip and to an inner face of ametal end memberfor cementing each end face of the bellows-simulatingcloth to theadjacent end member.

In the resulting assembly (shown insection in Fig. 3) the two springsthen cooperate to prevent a downward sliding of all of the cloth panelswhich are between the two end panels, and the interfitting of the twosprings with the recesses in the cloth prevent each such panel fromshifting or rocking sidewise. Moreover, each coiled spring when each ofa normal length considerably greater than the joint thickness of thecloth panels tend to'keep the flexible diaphragm considerably distendedand with its end plates parallelto .each other, as shown in Fig. 3.

In using such a flexible diaphragm on a model car .7, one metal endplate of the diaphragm is fastened flatwise to theend of the car. I Thismay be done with glue or cement, or I may provide the metal end platewith perforations 4 (as shown in Figs. 4 and 6) so that it can befastened to a car end by drive pins extending through such perforationsand through correspondingly pricked perforations in the end panels ofthe folded cloth.

With two of my flexible diaphragms thus fastened to the adjacent ends oftwo model cars, a connecting of these cars (in the usual manner wellknown to users of model railway equipment) by a coupler of shortereffective length than the normal joint thickness of the two diaphragms,such a coupling will somewhat compress the diaphragms so as to keeptheir adjacent end plates pressed against each other. This contacting ofthe merely spring-supported end plates continues when the cars arerounding curves, since the springs readily adjust themselves to adeparture from parallelism between the two end plates of one of myflexible diaphragms. Thus, Fig. 2 shows how the folds of each simulationof a bellows are brought closer to each other at the inner side of acurve, but spread farther apart at the outer side.

Moreover, since each coiled spring readily permits its axis to be curvedin any direction, my diaphragm construction also allows the diaphragmsto adjust themselves to vertical as well as lateral displacements of onecar from the other, so that each diaphragm can readily skew when one carsways with respect to the other on an uneven track. However, during allsuch ac-.

tions, the engaging of the springs with wall portions of the recesses inthe cloth panels through which the springs extend limits the bodilymovement of these panels to portions close to the springs, leaving otherportions of the cloth panels free to flex somewhat back and forth so asto enhance the resemblance to a flexible vestibule bellows on a realpassenger car.

So also, it will be obvious from Fig. 1 that the springs aresubstantially concealed from View even when one of my diaphragms is on aloose .car, and that my simple folded strip of cloth effectivelysimulates a bellows although much more simple and inexpensive than atrue bellows which would require at least three separate cloth portionsfor its construction.

However, while I have described my invention in connection with anembodiment including numerous desirable details of construction andarrangement, it is to be understod that these might bevaried in manyrespects without departing either from the spirit of my invention orfrom the appended claims, and that my in-- vention also is not to belimited as to the abovedescribed assembling procedure.

I claim as my invention:

1. A vestibule bellows comprising a plurality of upright leavesconsecutively hingedly connected to each other at alternately oppositeside edges; two rigid end members respectively fastened flatwise to theoutward faces of the two end leaves, the said leaves and the end membershaving alined apertures; and two resilient means extending respectivelyadjacent to the upper ends if said apertures and the lower ends of thesaid leaves, each of the said resilient means being fastened at its endsrespectively to the two end members.

2. A vestibule bellows as per claim 1, in which the apertures in thesaid leaves consist of perforations having alined upward extensionsjoint-' having alined perforations; and coiled springs extending throughthe said leaves respectively above and below the perforations in theleaves, each of the coiled springs being fastened at its endsrespectively to the two end members; the said perforation extensions andthe said recesses alining vertically to permit the said hingedlyconnected leaves to be slid conjointly downward with respect to the saidend members before the said end members are fastened to the latter.

4. A vestibule bellows as per claim 1, in which the said hingedlyconnected leaves consist of a single strip of flexible material doubledback and forth along parallel and equally spaced lines at right anglesto the axis of the strip.

5. A vestibule bellows as per claim 1, in which the said hingedlyconnected leaves consist of a strip of flexible material doubled backand forth along parallel and equally spaced lines at right angles to theaxis of the strip, and in which each of the said members is a frame-likeand fiat metal plate.

6. A vestibule bellows comprising two upright, parallel and frame-likemetal end plates presenting horizontal upper and lower frame members;two spirally coiled springs respectively connecting mid-width portionsof the upper and lower frame members of the said end plates; and azigzagged strip of flexible cloth interposed between the said end platesand presenting leaves consecutively connected to each other at theirside edges, the two end leaves of the said zigzagged strip beingrespectively fastened to the two end plates and the said leaves havingapertures alining with the bores of the frame-like end plates.

7. A vestibule bellows as per claim 6, in which each of the said endleaves is secured flatwise to the metal end plate adjacent to it.

8. A vestibule bellows as per claim 6, in which the said leaves of thecloth strip have alined and downwardly open recesses respectively at thelower edges of the aperture in the leaves and at the lower edges of theleaves, through the upper and lower of which recesses the two coiledsprings respectively extend.

9. As a constituent for a flexible bellows-simulating member for avestibule bellows, a strip of cloth provided with uniformly spaced,parallel and generally rectangular counterpart apertures, each aperturehaving at one end a central extension of relatively small Width andheight in proportion to the width of the aperture, and the said striphaving outwardly open edge recesses of counterpart size with the saidaperture extensions; each of the said recesses alining transversely ofthe strip respectively with the said aperture extensions and opening atthe opposite edge of the strip from that toward which the said apertureextensions present their closed ends.

10. A vestibule bellows as per claim 3, in which the said perforationextensions and the said recesses each have the upper portions of theirwalls engaging one of the coiled springs, whereby the said springscooperate in supporting the leaves of the bellows which are disposedbetween the said two end leaves.

11. A vestibule bellows as per claim 3, in which the said perforationextensions and the said recesses each have wall portions thereofdisposed for laterally engaging one of the coiled springs to limit alateral shifting of the leaves of the bellows which are disposed betweenthe said two end leaves.

CLIFFORD H. SMITH.

